Aloha

Would not recommend:-/ was disappointed. Food was blah. Place had a funny «stale» odor. Service was good

The best food ever! Born and raised on this place. It’s a long standing family own business who has survived the economic hardships of Decatur, and for obvious reason! — ask for Chong!

The first time I went, I would have given a 5, and this last time I would have given a 1, so I’m compromising with a 3.
1) The food this time was really not good. They charged $ 4 to add in tofu to a dish, and then despite me asking multiple times, the sauce tasted like meat.
2) The sauce wasn’t spicy despite requesting it. She was super polite about it, but said spicy sauces make it too oily. That was fine, but I wish she would have at least offered to bring some of the spicy sauce out (she explained they make their own pepper sauce).
3) The waitstaff was really polite, so I will give them that.
4) When they noticed that I wouldn’t even eat the food, I wish they would have offered to do something with a different sauce. It was a seriously off-​putting and unappetizing sauce.
5) The weirdest part was the chef got into a very loud fight with one of the waitstaff/​managers. They even left the kitchen to have the fight in the area closer to us. We were the only patrons at the time (5 pm is quiet), so maybe they forgot we were witnessing it. The chef was yelling about how he has to do all of the work and isn’t treated right and the other guy (s) don’t pull their weight. And then there was later fighting about «You don’t fire someone until you give him a chance.» I felt really bad for everyone involved, but it was incredibly awkward for us.
I’m so conflicted, because I had a lovely experience the first time I came here. However, after this dinner, I probably won’t come back.

Probably the best Chinese Restaurant in Decatur, I usually get the beef & Broccoli with Hunan fried rice. Menu is pretty standard but they do have all you can eat buffet for Sunday lunch (They used to have it every lunch). Big screen TV that’s usually on ESPN and video gaming/​full bar in the back room also.

Being born and raised in Decatur, IL I can tell you there’s not a whole lot of saving graces for this town (granted things are improving all the time), but Aloha has always been the exception to the rule! I’ve been lucky enough to do some extensive traveling in my time and I can say hands down that this is THE BEST DAMN CHINESE FOOD you’ll ever have!
The recipes used are the quintessential, handed-​down, family secret, keep in a fire-​proof safe, don’t tell anybody how you do it-​type of experience. You’ll ask, they won’t tell.
Obviously, the food is off the chain and if I was to sit here and list all the amazing dishes I’ve had here it’s pretty much be the entire menu. However, there are a few standouts that I just have to give praise to; including: the Hot & Sour soup, Asian Chicken Wings, Crab Rangoon, Shanghai Duck, Princess Chicken, General Tso’s, and Moo-​sho Pork. If you like crazy cocktails, do yourself a favor and ask for a «double double» and be prepared to see GOD; you’ll thank me later!
Outside of the food, Aloha is also home to one of the nicest and most courteous staff you’ll ever come across! From the owners to every server, you’ll be hard pressed to find a harder working, classier team of individuals. We love Chung and Susan to death!
Obviously, I’m a bit jaded in my review having so many wonderful and personal experiences at this place but I’m 100% honest when I say this place is not worth missing! I’m still amazed when I meet people who live in Decatur but have never tried this place. My heart truly weeps for them! This place is among a very short list of «Will Not Miss» restaurants I have and any time I find my way back to Decatur I’m damn sure making a stop at the one and ONLY Aloha!

My husband’s family recently came to town for his 30^th birthday, and we decided to go to Aloha because he likes Asian food. So glad we did! We were seated in one of the family rooms with a large table and Lazy Susan, which was really great for the atmosphere. We ordered a five person dinner combo deal that comes with soup, a huge appetizer platter, five entrees to share and dessert. That was for about $ 78 total, and believe me, it was a value purchase. We were STUFFED and had plenty to take home, but it was such a great experience!

We stopped in the evening and ordered from the menu to celebrate a family event. They were very accommodating, and moved us to a larger table with a Lazy Susan on it. The food is served so that everyone can share. Everything we ordered was absolutely amazing. We ordered a variety of things from the menu to include egg rolls, wontons, Fried rice, sweet-​and-​sour pork, duck, and Princess fish. The customer service was fantastic. We really enjoyed our evening there. We usually stop in for the lunch buffet quite a bit. It is really excellent food also.

This place rocks. Best Asian food in town.

I grew up in Central Illinois. And for 7 years of my life, Aloha was only 19 miles away yet I never knew it existed. Twenty years after moving on, I was passing through the area again and found Aloha via
. I was pretty skeptical about it because I couldn’t imagine a solid tiki/​Polynesian experience in the Decatur, IL.
And I was totally wrong. Aloha rocks! The exterior décor doesn’t look like much, but the interior décor is totally on the money for that vintage tiki vibe. After talking to the waitresses I learned that everything in the place is mostly original and has been in place since 1974.
The food was surprisingly good. I actually don’t really like Americanized Chinese food very much, but 95% of the tiki joints I visit are hawking the stuff. Aloha’s had the same old menu you’ve seen everywhere but it was really, really good. A real surprise there.
And the drinks: the mai tai was mixed decent but was not very potent. The zombie, which is usually the all-​mighty in these contests, turned out to be about as strong as an average mai tai. My lady had her usual coconut milk drink which was good too. But all seemed to agree that the zombie was the drink to try in Aloha.
The music was pretty good, mostly ukelele and Hawaiian-​flavored stuff which always gets a good response from me.
Only drawback: there’s a lot of plasmas around, which pull your mind out of the South Pacific and back into Central Illinois, but hey that’s okay considering the rest of it.
If you’re anywhere in Illinois but can’t make it to the Chicago-​area tiki joints and want a kitschy Polynesian experience, it’s worth the drive to Aloha in Decatur.

The family I was staying with in Decatur decided to order Chinese food from Aloha one night for dinner. I was skeptical… Chinese food in the middle of Illinois can’t possible be good, I thought, and also, what kind of Chinese place is named «Aloha?»
How wrong I was. This place was delicious! If there were an Aloha here I would eat there all the time!
To start, the eggrolls, which were all veggie, were very good. They were huge too! Like mini chimichangas. The pork fried rice was some of the best fried rice I have ever had, it was very moist and super flavorful.
The Mongolian Beef was great, the beef was very thick and cut into long strips, you could tell it was very high quality beef. The Princess Chicken, which was everybody’s favorite, was my least favorite. It is peanuts, water chestnuts, and chicken with an incredibly spicy sauce. The water chestnuts and chicken are cut to the same size as the peanuts, so it’s very small bites of food. It was alright, not my favorite. They also ordered one more item which I think was General Tso’s Chicken, it was really good.
I have no idea what the prices were like or how the restaurant looks, but I do know the takeout was damn tasty!

Very good! Hawaiian Chicken, and Moo Shoo Pork tasted great.

The last, and I mean LAST, time I ate there the shrimp in my dish was half rotten. Not recommended.

OK, so from the outside this place looks like nothing special. I probably passed this restaurant 100X and just wrote it off as ANOTHER unoriginal Decatur chinese buffet. Then… I discovered I was wrong…
Walk in Aloha and it is like walking off the boat onto the set of LOST. Every inch of this place is decorated… and I mean DECORATED!!! The food… delicious. They have a pretty extensive menu and so far I have had the pineapple chicken, Hula bowl (aka meat bonanza), and meat dumplings, which were all tasty.
They do offer a buffet during lunch on the weekdays which is also pretty good (and this is coming from a girl who isn’t a big fan of chinese buffets). I do appreciate that Aloha favors quality over quantity w/​their buffet items :)
Also, they do offer a couple of really fun mixed drinks which I have all heard are good, but having been there during the work week, I haven’t really had the opportunity to try any. If you have had some please share, I am all ears… :)

They have a small buffet. Competing with at least 2 large Asian buffets in town. The ambience is more private and cozy. If you speak Chinese, you can ask for any dish you want made. We avoid the buffet and prefer to order off the menu.
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Ok this is my favorite restaurant of all time. My family has been coming here for as long as I can remember. My grandpa used to come here almost every day and he would even come in trough the kitchen :) I have since moved to Chicago and have yet to find anything that even compares. Their chicken wings are the best I have ever had! The staff is amazing. I never come back to Decatur without coming here. I love love love this place!
A good way to check it out would be during lunchtime when they have the buffet. Excellent fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, and chicken wings are on the buffet.